Saint Dorothea is a single name for two separate 4th century virgin martyrs, one in Caesarea Mazaca in modern Turkey, the other in Alexandria, Egypt. Both have very sparse documentary evidence for their acta.
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Dorothea of Caesarea
The more famous of the two was Dorothea of Caesarea, who died circa 311. She was a martyr of the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecutions, although her death occurred after his reign, whose legend features in a number of retellings. According to the hagiographer Alban Butler, for example, Dorothea's parents were martyred before her by Diocletian, and a Roman governor, Sapiricius, called her to an audience and demanded that she take a husband. When she refused, he had her put upon the rack and given a choice of a husband, if she would sacrifice to the gods, or death, if she refused. She claimed that she had a husband in Jesus Christ and desired death. Sapiricius then put her in a cell with two women who had abandoned Christianity, hoping that they would convince her, but, instead, she brought them back to religious faith. When she was again put on the rack, she smiled and said that she was truly blessed, for she had saved two lost souls and would be assured of paradise. She was sentenced to death, after further tribulation. Her martyrdom occurred in February, and as she was being led to her beheading, a man named Theophilus mocked her, asking her to send him apples or roses from her husband's garden. Upon her binding for decapitation, Dorothea saw a young girl with a basket of roses and apples and asked her to take them to Theophilus as a gift. The child was an angel, and when Theophilus saw her bringing him roses and apples after Dorothea's martyrdom, he converted to Christianity and was later martyred himself. In late medieval Sweden she was considered as the 15th member of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and in art she occurred with Saint Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria and Margaret of Antioch forming with them a quartet of female saints called Huvudjungfrur meaning The Main Virgins. Dorothea of Caesarea's life and martyrdom was the basis of Philip Massinger and Thomas Dekker's The Virgin Martyr (printed 1622). She is the patron saint of horticulture.
 Saint Dorothea of Caesarea, by Francisco de Zurbarán |
 Stained glass representing St. Dorothea of Caesarea. Upper Rhine, ca. 1450 |
Dorothea of Alexandria
The other Dorothea is Dorothea of Alexandria, who was courted by the Emperor Maximinus. She rejected his suit in favor of her own faith and her commitment to virginity, and he had her beheaded circa 320. The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Dorothy is a convent of active nuns, occupied primarily with teaching and the cultivation of flowers and produce. The order is named for Dorothea of Caesarea. Their most famous member is Lucia dos Santos, the oldest of the three Fatima visionaries.
See also
- Sainte-Dorothée, Quebec, a borough in Laval, Quebec, Canada
References
- Butler, Alban. The Lives of the Saints. Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers, 1995. (Originally published 1878.) Nihil obstat and Imprimatur 1955.
- Englebert, Omer. The Lives of the Saints. Christopher and Anne Fremantle, trans. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1994. Nihil obstat and Imprimatur 1951.
- Harvey, Sir Paul, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967.
- The Swedish Nationalecyklopedin Volume 5 p.102
- Medeltidens ABC edited by The Swedish national museum of history p. 93, 276.
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